Mtr Mary Trainor
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Dear friend,
Sometimes it’s extremely hard to miss the point. Today’s Office Gospel from John (17:20-26) provides such an opportunity. Over and over, this way and that, Jesus says—while praying—that Jesus and the Father are one, and that we are to be one in them, with them, and one with each other.
It’s a message of unity. In prayer, Jesus speaks to the Father on behalf of the disciples, but also on behalf of humankind through eternity.
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My Baptist mother taught us to end every prayer with the words atop this Daily Bread: In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen. I still conclude prayer with these words learned decades ago. As a child, I considered them as a rule about how to end prayer. Mother told me to say the words, I did.
Eventually I came to a different understanding. Jesus is our intercessor, who reaches the Father on our behalf, and on behalf of all whom God loves. I take this in its broadest sense, as framed in a bit of wisdom found in a Facebook picture: You will never look into the face of someone God does not love.
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War is raging in this world, one nation seeking to rob another nation of its property, its freedom, its way of life. Just because one unbalanced leader nostalgically wants to restore a bygone empire. Might make right, some say.
But Jesus prays for oneness, unity. Father, Son, Spirit. Each of us, all of us, together, and with the Trinity of Persons we call God. As may be evidenced in the construction of collects, we submit our prayers to God the Father through Jesus the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
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This oneness is hard to understand much less achieve. Turning again to my Baptist mother, she would say, “Where there’s a thickening, there will be a thinning.” Took me years to get that one, too. But when I did, I realized she was onto something. In friendships, in families, in marriages, people find varying times of closeness, agreement, unity. And then there are occasions when we disagree, we grow apart, maybe even dislike each other for a while. Thickenings and thinnings.
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I believe Jesus meant what he said about unity. I also know there’s a complexity to unity. It is not about conformity, or lock-step thinking. It does not mean sameness nor does it preclude having questions. Unity creatively gathers a diversity of perspectives to settle on a life-giving direction.
Today we petition God on behalf of peoples of all faith traditions that we may learn to live in unity and peace.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen
Mtr Mary